Fishidiot wrote:Great report David. Were you fly fishing and if so what sort of fly did yuh nail him on? Did he bite you off or just shake the hook?They're definitely out there and usually active in cold water. The pike are in really shallow these days too - often right up against the bankside cover at ice out.

I was fly fishing. I was expecting to see some pike, but the only ones I made I contact with were the big dogs. Perhaps the pike were the ones that flushed early.

I got him on this fly tied on a stainless 2/0. I started with the same fly in a white / red combo, but they weren't looking at it. I switched to the black on my back.

I had wire on, so he didn't bite through. He just shook it, or more likely it just pulled loose. Probably a good thing, cause I forgot my long needle nose pliers anyway!

David,Every year starting at this time I catch pike up there on a fly rod. My biggest to dqte is about 39". I don't really target them specifically. In fact, I'm usually fishing for hybrids and just happen onto them.

Ironically, I've hooked into very few muskies in 25 years of fishing at Lake Arthur, all were very small, and I did catch one of about 36 inches below the dam overflow in Muddy Creek. There is a very good population of muskies in the lake I understand. And I've seen some monsters cruising in shallow water.

One very odd but true story -- about 10 years ago I was back in one of the bays, wet wading and flippin' for bass in some thick pads. I noticed a redwing blackbird hopping from pad to pad picking off bugs. Suddenly the water exploded, I saw a huge head and body roll from the water and the bird was gone. I got the hell out of the water fast... I'll never forget it. I didn't get a good look at the fish so I only assume it was a muskie.

Posted on: 2010/3/15 17:11

_________________
"I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't." --John Gierach

Every year we seem to get bit or get a flash of a musky on opening day. They like stocked trout, especially ones struggling on the end of a line, hehe. Never actually hooked one though, assuming I need bigger hooks for that. Been quite often you see a big flash, the rod doubles over, and then the trout you were fighting is suddenly just gone.

My brother targets them in Tionesta Creek below the dam and does pretty well. He throws the enormous figerglass lures with spinning gear.

A-kid, I think I misunderstood your question. Were you asking if this time of the year was when FFers usually catch muskies compared to other times of the year? If that's what you meant, I suspect the answer to that is probably no. The reason I doubt it is simply due to the fact that most muskies caught here in PA and most caught by FFing are caught by accident by bass fishermen. There are far more folks targeting bass on fly rods in summer than early spring. Also, muskies are very active in summer and many of the rivers can be fished easier by wading or boating in summer rather than this time of year so if I had to suggest a best month to target muskies with fly gear I'd vote for June or Sept largely due to ideal conditions. I do think that this time of year (early spring) would be the best time to target large pike in lakes in PA. Big pike tend to be too deep for FFing in summer.

David, That fly looks like a killer.

Pcray, I have no doubt that muskies like stocked trout. I've never seen one take a hooked trout off a line but I'd imagine this is common in a creek like Tionesta which has lots of muskies. Have you ever seen muskies in the Tully? The Tully isn't stocked with them but Blue Marsh gets tigers and I've heard of them being common below the dam. I would think the Tully is really too shallow and lacking cover for a muskie to stay there for long. Muskies used to be common in Spring Creek back in the 1980s when they were still growing 'em at Benner Springs. They'd get out and were not uncommon. There was a huge musky in the 36" class in the Paradise in the still pool out in front of the Stackhouse school. Every once in awhile I'd catch a musky in Spring Cr with tooth marks. Haven't seen that in a long time.

Esox, and Pike are caught in the same manner! The flies I notmally use are 10-14" bunny leeches. I use surflon "mono coated wire 7 strand" You can make a hay wire twist with it and burn it to melt the plastic to make the twist hold! The mono coated wire you can tye knots with it. I used 10" of the monocoated wire and thats it. Short leaders like 7-8' These fish feed ,and being nice about it is not in thier personality!... Good luck guys, and please handle these fish with kid gloves. Thier survial rate is not good with a bad release! Dont flop the fish in the bottom of the boat keep them in the water.

No. If I were to look for them I'd focus on the spillway, that looks "fishy" from a musky point of view. I don't fish it much.

Most of my musky experiences are in the Allegheny watershed. Crooked Creek spillway is near to where I grew up and is a good musky fishery from the dam to the river, especially the spillway pool. Tionesta is even better from the dam to the river, though there are some upstream too, as I mentioned losing a few trout to them and seeing them flash quite often. I know of a hole on the Tionesta upstream of the dam where I can just about guarantee there's one there. And of course the Kinzua tailrace. I've seen a few, or maybe just one multiple times, from a bridge over the Kiski, too.

To be honest, I've never actually landed one. I had one to my feet once in Crooked Creek, he took a shiner when I was targeting walleye back in my teenage years. Also hooked something that was probably a musky at Kinzua once, targeting trout and walleye but something big and fast took my emerald shiner, faster than the carp I sometimes hook there. Eventually broke 10 lb test.

Last year I tossed some big streamers around while watching my brother throw his lures in the lower Tionesta, and watched him catch 2 that morning. I did land a nice channel cat that morning on the fly, my first ever on fly gear.

I was fishing below the spillway, and there was an awful lot of splashing and struggling going on near one of the banks. It was clear that some large fish was chasing and eating a smaller fish. I didn't get a positive ID, but musky has always been my first suspicion.

I had a shot at two tigers this week but couldn't close the deal. Muskies are an awesome gamefish and the lower levels we've seen on the big rivers this spring have made for better fishing conditions. I just finished tying up another big muskie fly this evening. I'd say sometime in June we ought to try and get the PAFF Muskie JAM together and float the North Branch Susky.

Fredrick wrote:Yeah Jay that is why I'm not letting you fish in front of me anymore . If it was me I would of landed that fish so we wouldn't have any doubts on what kind of fish it was

Actually, don't give up on that fish. If it was in fact a muskie it's probably going to stay in that spot for awhile. This would be especially true if you were fishing a river and there aren't any major water level fluctuations. Rest him for a couple days and go try again.